Once again into Q2, starting in 13th place in the early hours of tomorrow morning! Chinese driver Zhou Guanyu completed the second F1 qualifying match of his career with his steady performance.
In the qualifying round of the F1 Saudi Arabia leg that ended in the early morning of Beijing time today, Zhou Guanyu of the Alfa Romeo team ranked 10th in Q1 with a time of 1:29.978, entering Q2 for the second consecutive time. As a rookie driver this is already a very good performance.
In the Q2 competition, Zhou Guanyu's time was 1:29.819, ranking 13th. Although it has not been able to make further progress into Q3, it has already risen two more places from the previous 15th place in Bahrain.
As the fastest street race, as with the previous day's practice race, Jeddah Track is still prone to accidents in qualifying. It is foreseeable that there will be no fewer accidents in the next main race, so for Zhou Guanyu, he still has to play his long-distance race with high stability, first ensure a safe and smooth finish, and maybe it will bring surprises to everyone.
Zhou Guanyu's teammate Bottas advanced to Q3 and eventually finished 8th in qualifying, and their Alfa Romeo car still showed good competitiveness in Saudi Arabia.
The biggest accident in qualifying happened to Haas driver Mick Schumacher. The beloved son of the car king Michael Schumacher was out of a corner when the tires hit the shoulder of the road, causing the car to lose control and crash into the wall of the track at high speed. His car was smashed in two, fragments flew everywhere, and the scene looked quite tragic.
Fortunately, Mick Schumacher himself was conscious and stepped out of the car on his own. Although he appeared to be in good health, Mick Schumacher was immediately taken by helicopter to a nearby hospital for preventive examinations.
Early this morning, Mick Schumacher was discharged from the hospital and said he was safe through social media: "Thank you all for your blessings and concern. Haas's car was fantastic and we will come back in a better mood! ”
However, haas team has decided that they will not let him participate in the regular race tomorrow morning.
The biggest underdog in this qualifying tournament was The Mercedes Team's seven-time Drivers' Championship and third-placed Hamilton in the last race was eliminated in Q1 and only ranked 16th. This is the first time in five years that the Briton has not made qualifying Q2 since Brazil in 2017.
The "dolphin jump" problem that plagued Mercedes racing in the new season has not been solved so far. After qualifying, Hamilton said his car had problems tuning up, which severely affected his speed.
Red Bull and Ferrari remain dominant, being the fastest teams on the Jeddah circuit, finishing in the top four of qualifying.
Finally on pole position was Red Bull Racing's Perez, Bahrain's regular race winner and Ferrari's Leclerc ranked second, and another Ferrari driver, Sainz, finished third. Last year's drivers' championship, Red Bull Racing' Vistapa was fourth.